Sky's Lark by Cheyenne Meadows Page B

of seconds.
    The pieces fell into place. She must have tagged Santora then decided something fishy existed in the department, which sent her to searching through his files in an attempt to catch him red-handed. He recalled her nosey habit the brief time she had fallen under his jurisdiction. Her snooty attitude and haughtiness had frankly irritated him as did her small curvy feminine form, cut out more for an aerobics instructor than his agency. She could handle herself, he gave her that much, but he resented having to put up with a woman in a man's profession. Women belonged at home to take care of the house and children, just like his wife. Not toting guns around and tracking down bad guys.
    She had the balls and brashness to attempt such a feat, but this time that wet-dream body wouldn't save her. He held the winning hand in a high-stakes game and would only be too happy to watch her house of cards fall into a messy pile. The reward would pad his bank account while he enjoyed watching her learn a hard lesson on why women shouldn't mess in a man's world. Both would be an early birthday present for him, one he couldn't wait to see.

Chapter 11
     
    "Here's what I have thus far. It's not much, mostly circumstantial evidence." Clutching the printed pages from her purse, she laid them on Ryan's desk.
    "Are you sure you're on the right track?" He picked up the small pile, thumbing through each page as his blue eyes scanned over the information.
    Of her four brothers, Lark remained closest to Ryan, for a variety of reasons. He was the nearest to her in age, a mere two years older. They'd teamed up as kids to harass the older siblings and played with one another when no one else had time or the willingness to do so. She loved her male-dominated family, but Ryan held an extra special piece of her heart.
    "One of the team with some serious hacking skills couldn't even get through the protective walls. He said it was locked up tighter than the Pentagon, which is saying something big."
    "Sounds like it." He glanced up at her before resuming his investigation of the documents.
    He reminded her so much of their father, Jake. Tall and built, his boyish face took on a serious expression now, but at home, he glowed with amusement and mischief. Both men worked hard and used their time off to play harder. Blond hair, a couple of shades darker than her own, swept across his forehead. When amused, dimples appeared on his cleanly shaved cheeks.
    Jake, as well as all his children, had attended West Point. While Lark, Ryan, and Luke chose to resign from their military lives, the two oldest brothers, Marshall and Deacon, still served. In all reality, none of them had considered much else after high school. The military was all they knew as kids when their parents had packed them up and moved them all around the world as soon as the papers arrived with new orders.
    Despite the lack of constancy, Lark wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Not many kids visited such exotic locations, let alone lived there long enough to soak up cultures and languages. While others her age might have been playing in the streets or riding their bicycles, her family walked the Great Wall of China and enjoyed the exquisite tropical offerings of Fiji.
    Their mother was the exception to the military life, having attended a public university and never once considered joining the service. She'd cheered in college and had met her husband while cheering for the team playing against his. Jake, a running back at the time, had received a big shove out of bounds while carrying the ball. Unable to stop, he'd plowed her down where she had been positioned on the sidelines.
    Ryan placed the papers back on his desk then leaned forward, resting his elbows on a large desktop monthly calendar. "It's not much. You have to have something much more concrete in order for me to even approach a judge for a search warrant."
    She nodded. "I know and I'm working on it." Brushing a stray